Find commands in Office 2007 and AutoCAD 2009

You know what you look for in Word, Excel or PowerPoint but cannot find it in the Ribbon. Now with the free Search Commands this is so much easier.

Do you know for example where you can find the command to Insert Form Field?

It is found on the Insert tab and under Quick Parts. Took me a while to find the first time.

Or click on the Search Commands tab and enter "field" and there you have it as well as other related commands.

Hoover with the mouse over any of the results and you find more information including where it is found.

BTW. Similar functionality is included already out-of-the-box in AutoCAD 2009.

And here are the matches using Search menu.

 

The Microsoft Office Lab Website and Blog. This is another blog to keep a watch on as more useful tools will be released.

Excel document version created in year 1601

I had one of the rare crashes of Vista and when I fired up Excel next time I notice that the original had this information. Version created last time the user saved the file 1:00 am January 1, 1601". That was some hundred years ago. Call it the Year 1601 bug.

Understanding Floating Point Precision in AutoCAD, Excel, etc.

AutoCAD has had 64-bit accuracy in the 32-bit platform for many years but still with 64-bit accuracy things can go wrong with with "unexpected" result.

Why is 1.320 - 1.3190 not equal to 0.001 when it really is 0.001?

Be careful when you make comparisons like this.

Both AutoCAD, Excel and many other applications are designed in accordance to the IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic (IEEE 754). The standard defines how floating-point numbers are stored and calculated.

A floating-point number is stored in binary in three parts within a 65-bit range: the sign, the exponent, and the mantissa.

1 Sign Bit
11 Bit Exponent
1 Implied Bit
52 Bit Mantissa

A detailed article that describes this thoroughly is Understanding Floating Point Precision, aka “Why does Excel Give Me Seemingly Wrong Answers?”

Solution to Outlook.exe keep running after exit

For some time I've run into the problem that Outlook 2007 is not closed fully. The application is no longer visible but the process keeps running as can be seen in Task Manager. It is normal that it can take a few seconds up to some minutes but now it never stops running. And if an email comes during this time I got notified about it and can open that email. If I try to start Outlook it shows the application using the same Outlook.exe process. This happens on Vista SP1 and might happen on other Windows versions as well.

The solution in my case was that I found Skype (version 3.6) locking up Outlook because it was set to "Show Outlook Contacts" in the View menu. When I disabled that option Outlook closed as it should.

 

One symptom I have seen is that I get the notification that "A data file did not close properly the last time it was used as is being checked for problems. Performance might be affected while the check is in progress."

Another is this message when starting Outlook could be "Outlook failed to start correctly last time. Starting Outlook in safe mode will help you correct or isolate the startup problem in order to successfully start the program. Some functionality may be disabled in this mode. Do you want to start Outlook in safe mode?"

Then "Data file check in process" can be seen for quite a while.

Some other tips if this happens are to check the consistency of the PST files using SCANPST.EXE. Check also for other applications that might connect to Outlook or access the PST files like Google Desktop. Antivirus programs could also be the cause of the locks.

If nothing else works you can try to select "Perform an automatic sen/receive when exiting." in Options>Send/Receive...

Access 2007 Runtime SP1 available

I have updated the detailed network license reports in JTB FlexReport that can make use the Access 2007 Runtime SP1. Download details are found in this previous blogpost.

Found out about SP1 via the Access Team Blog.

The Email Standards Project

I recently found this website Email Standards Project and think it's a great initiative.

Find out how your email client is doing.

Here are some samples showing how clients like Google Gmail, Lotus Notes 8, Outlook 2007, Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Mail ended up in their acid test.

 
 
 

Some companies like IBM and Yahoo! have responded as can be seen on their blog.

Access 2003 to Access 2007 useful links when upgrading

If you are about to start using or just have started to use Access 2007 these links can be useful.

• Main Microsoft site about Access 2007
• Interactive: Access 2003 to Access 2007 command reference guide
• Reference: Locations of Access 2003 commands in Access 2007.
• Help for Access 2007
• Access 2007 Courses - Up to speed with Access 2007 40 min free course.
• Access 2007 templates - free templates to use as starters if you want to learn how to create Access databases.
• Download a free trial - 2007 Microsoft Office. Or take an online test drive.

As a bonus here are some links about the other Office products:

• Interactive: Excel 2003 to Excel 2007 command reference guide
• Interactive: PowerPoint 2003 to PowerPoint 2007 command reference guide
• Interactive: Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2007 command reference guide
• Interactive: Word 2003 to Word 2007 command reference guide

I found out about the interactive guides that helps to find things in the new 2007 ribbon on the Access Team Blog.

If you want help with developing a database or application in Access feel free to contact me. I have many years of experience creating database applications, both small and large. For example one that integrated information flow between CAD, ERP, EDM and more.

JTB FlexReport Detailed Reports using Access 2007 Runtime

Want to try network license reporting functionality of JTB FlexReport that supports FLEXlm and FLEXnet?

Either contact us for a time limited fully functional version for free or you can use these downloads below and try the reports with a sample database.

Download of JTB FlexReport Detailed Reports that does not require Access to be installed. It uses the Access 2007 Runtime that you will be asked to download and install if needed. The Microsoft Office Access 2007 Runtime allow users who do not have the full version of Access 2007 (or earlier versions) installed on their computers to run JTB FlexReport Detailed Reports. JTB FlexReport Detailed Reports supports older versions but some functionality and reports work better or only in Access 2007.

Download for the Access 2007 Runtime. (56.4 MB)

It seems like the queries for the reports below does not work in all older versions of Access. It works in the 2007 version though.

Download JTB FlexReport Graphic Reports.

Download the sample database with several months data that can be viewed using the reports above.

Documentation is found here. But if you only want to use the three downloads it's suggested that you start installing JTB FlexReport Detailed Reports. It will as default install in the User AppData folder in the subfolder JTB FlexReport. A JTB FlexReport Detailed Reports.mdb shortcut is also created in the All Programs folder on the Windows start menu.
In Windows Vista
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\JTB FlexReport
In Windows XP
%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\JTB FlexReport

Place the two other files in the same folder and correct the path when you start the reports.

Adobe Reader 8.1 includes PDF Preview Handler

Robin raised a good question to my previous post if the Outlook 2007 preview is included with the reader.

Adobe Reader 8.1 does include the Outlook 2007 and Windows Explorer PDF Previewer, Windows Search filter, and Windows Explorer icon preview extension (see the image).

When I tried in my Virtual PC 2007 Vista test environment I could not get the Windows Search filter to work. Not sure why. Maybe text within PDF files cannot be searched with the PDF filter that is included with the Reader.

PDF Preview Handler included with Adobe Acrobat 8.1

Recently Adobe Acrobat 8.1 was released. One good thing is that a PDF Preview Handler is included so you can look at PDF files directly within Outlook 2007. The viewer is very basic and it is not much you do. I directly missed being able to zoom in and zoom out but a workaround is to resize the message window.

The first time you click on a PDF file it takes a few seconds but after that the viewer fires up in less than a second.

It also works in Windows Explorer

New features in Adobe Acrobat 8.1
New operating system support:

• Windows XP 64-bit edition
• Windows 2003 64-bit edition
• Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit editions
  Note: There is a known issue with 64-bit versions of these operating systems which causes the Adobe PDF Printer to not work correctly. Microsoft has released a Hot Fix for this issue which is documented in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article #930627 available at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930627. Adobe has tested and will support the Adobe PDF Printer with this Hot Fix installed.

New features:

• Vista Preview Handler: Preview Handler is a new user interface for viewing PDF files in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 on Windows Vista and Windows XP, as well as in Windows Explorer on Windows Vista. Preview Handler must be turned on in both applications.
• Microsoft Office 2007 support.
• PDF printer driver in Vista supports high quality PDF creation.
• PDFMaker Office 2007 PDF Creation.
• Option to create Quick and Simple PDFs from Word 2007.
• New PDFMaker Ribbon UI in Office 2007.
• Mac OS X version now includes Flash MPP for improved support for Flash files with multimedia on Mac OS.
• InDesign Plug-In update supports communication with InDesign for Creative Suites 3.
• Option to print documents to a FedEx Kinko?s office in the USA. English only.
• Direct render of Dynamic forms
• FIPS 140 Support

Compacting current database in Access

In Access 2000 and Access 2003 there was a way to compacting the current database using this VBA code.

CommandBars("Menu Bar"). _
Controls("Tools"). _
Controls("Database utilities"). _
Controls("Compact and repair database..."). _
accDoDefaultAction

It doesn't work in Access 2007.

You probably will get Run-time error '5': Invalid procedure call or argument

But it works when changed to this.

CommandBars("Menu Bar")._
Controls("&Tools")._
Controls("&Database utilities")._
Controls("&Compact and repair database")._
accDoDefaultAction

or using DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdCompactDatabase

The major problem is that you instead will get this error message.

You cannot compact the open database by running a macro or Visual Basic code.

Instead of using a macro or code, click the Microsoft Office Button, point to Manage, and then click Compact and Repair Database.

What I did was to use this code to make it compact when closed.

Application.SetOption "Auto Compact", True

And when loaded restore it to not Auto Compact when closed.

Application.SetOption "Auto Compact", False

Outlook 2007 Signatures and Stationary dialog box missing

I run into problem with Outlook 2007. When I selected Tools>Options>Mail Format>Signatures nothing happened. Restarted. Started in safe mode (holding down CTRL during start). No dialog box showed up.

The solution that helped was to run Microsoft Office Diagnostics available at Help>Office Diagnostics in Outlook.
Also at: Windows Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Office Tools.

Internet Explorer 7 crashes and Access 2007 crashes identified

I previously mentioned how IE7 crashes when clicking on some dropdown boxes. I have a sample of a drop-down box in that previous post. I also notice lately many strange crashes in Access 2007 like when I tried to create a simple query. The workaround was to start the application as administrator.

Finally I was able to isolate the problem to having Start++ running so I have notified Brandon about it in his forum and he is looking into the problem.

"it's a problem with any application that uses the System.Windows.Automation library and registers event handler on Automation events"

By the way I miss having Start++.

Start++ is an enhancement for the Start Menu in Windows Vista. It also extends the Run box and the command-line with customizable commands.  For example, typing "w Windows Vista" will take you to the Windows Vista page on Wikipedia!

Word 2007 bug using Save As

When using Save As in Microsoft Word 2007 it is supposed to save to the same folder as the document you have opened. But I have noticed that once in a while it opens up to another folder. If I try again it comes to the correct folder.

A tip for quick access to Save As or other commands is to add it to the Quick Access Toolbar like this. Just click on the black arrow to the right of the Quick Access Toolbar to customize it like you want. Select "More Commands...". Select "All Commands" in the drop-down "Choose commands from".

Don't use WeekdayName in Access

Avoid using the function WeekdayName() because it can give inconsistent results.

In the Immediate window I looked for the name of vbSunday and it returns måndag (Monday in Swedish).

? WeekdayName(vbSunday)
måndag

WeekdayName() uses vbUseSystemDayOfWeek and that can change depending on how you have set Windows to behave.

Workaround using either Format() or Weekday() since they use vbSunday as default value for the first day of the week or you can select what day should be the first day of the week.

This is a problem or bug even in the latest Microsoft Access 2007.

No search results in Outlook 2007 on Windows Vista

I got no results (or limited result) returned when searching for e-mail items using Instant Search in Outlook 2007 on Windows Vista.

I tried the suggestions mentioned in the help but to no avail. Then I tried to run the Inbox Repair Tool SCANPST.EXE found on my machine in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12

I run it on all PST files and there where errors found in all of the files.

I also run a rebuild of the index just to be sure and it seems like using the Inbox Repair Tool was the solution to the problem.

But the irritating thing is that after a few days the PST got corrupted again. Outlook should really be better at notifying when problems arise like this.

Update for Outlook 2007

This Microsoft update has to be done manually and if you use Outlook 2007 it is worth considering it. I've used it for some days and it seems working fine. I appreciate every millisecond of performance enhancement for Outlook 2007 that is possible to get.

This update fixes a problem in which a calendar item that is marked as private is opened if it is found by using the Search Desktop feature. The update also fixes performance issues that occur when you work with items in a large .pst file or .ost file.

Update for Outlook 2007 (KB933493)

Preview AutoCAD text files in Outlook 2007 and Vista

I mentioned about PDF preview handlers in a previous post.

Here is a picture showing how an AutoLISP file with the LSP file extension is previewed in Outlok 2007.

Here is a preview in Vista Explorer.

The above was achieved without any extra coding. A simple registry hack made lsp files and other files to be handled just like plain txt files.

Here is a sample reg file including some txt format files that are used by AutoCAD. CUS, DCL, LIN, LSP, MNL, MNS, MNU, PAT, PGP, SCR and SHP. This works for Windows Vista and Microsoft Outlook 2007. If you want other files to be handled like TXT files it is simple to edit the reg file and add or remove these. For example you might want to add CMD, BAT, VBS.

http://www.jtbworld.com/download/AutoCAD%20Preview%20Handlers.reg

Here is a snippet from the file.

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lsp\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

To remove it you can create a REG file with lines like this.

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lsp\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]

PDF Preview Handler for Vista and Outlook 2007

Here are a couple of great Preview Handlers for PDF files.

Foxit PDF Preview Handler as well as Adobe PDF Preview Handler.

Another one is in this MSDN article. The code download for this article includes a framework that makes it a snap to implement your own preview handlers, and it provides several sample previewers (including previewers for PDF, XML, ZIP, MSI, BIN, CSV, XPS, and XAML files).

If I had more time I would write one for DWG and DWF files. With the above code samples it's a quite easy task.

What are File Previewers for Outlook?

RSS Bandit released but I'm using Google Reader for now

I have used RSS Bandit as a feed reader for many years and before that Bloglines. But due to some long standing bugs in the previous version I gave Google Reader a fair try and I must say that it is really good.

Now RSS Bandit v1.5.0.10 is released and fixed these problems. Getting used to Google Reader I'm not sure I will use RSS Bandit for a while anyway. I've installed it and tried it and it is much better than before.

The biggest thing missing in Google Reader is ability to search. Isn't Google a search company? One little thing I miss in Google Reader is to drag and drop feeds from one folder to another. But I like the keyboard shortcuts. Here are some of them:

j/k	item down/up	selects the next/previous item in the list
space/shift-space	page down/up	moves the page down/up
n/p	scan down/up	in list view, selects the next item without opening it
enter	open/close item	in list view, expands or collapses the selected item
m	mark as read/unread	switches the read state of the selected item
v	view original	opens the original source for this article in a new window
shift-a	mark all as read	marks all items in the current view as read
1	expanded view	displays the subscription as expanded items
2	list view	displays the subscription as a list of headlines

I also tried the previous version of Attensa for Outlook but did not like it at all for the way I read feeds. There is a new free beta of Attensa for Outlook 2007 but I don't feel like trying it right now.